Honeymoon in Chicago
by Tracy Diane Miller
Summary: What do you get when you cross a good-natured hero with a feisty cop? Fireworks!


Honeymoon in Chicago  
  
Summary: What do you get when you cross a good-natured hero with a feisty  
  
cop? Fireworks! It wasn't "Hobson's Choice" to impersonate a honeymooner  
  
and Toni Brigatti may have compared needing him to make her plan work to  
  
needing a root canal, but the chemistry between the two of them was  
  
undeniable. This very short story was inspired by "The Ice Man Taketh".  
  
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to whoever created them. No  
  
copyright infringement intended. No profit is being made. Some of the dialogue that appears in this story is not my own, but belongs to the writer of the episode "The Ice Man Taketh."  
  
Author: Tracy Diane Miller  
  
E-mail Address: tdmiller82@hotmail.com  
  
  
  
Honeymoon in Chicago  
  
He raised the glass of chilled champagne to his lips, the bubbly liquid  
  
invitingly tantalizing. However, before he could take a sip, she grabbed  
  
the glass out of his hand and poured the liquid into a nearby plant. Her  
  
actions were as swift as an eagle returning to his abode after soaring  
  
unchallenged in the sky.  
  
"No drinking on the job." She roared.  
  
"What do you mean no drinking on the job? I'm on my honeymoon, remember?"  
  
He reminded.  
  
"The honeymoon's over." She informed.  
  
He started to leave the suite, but not before asking her what time she  
  
wanted him back. She yanked his jacket forcefully, telling him that he  
  
wasn't going anywhere even if it meant that she was going to have to  
  
handcuff him to the bed.  
  
"That's a very interesting proposition, Brigatti." He teased, his beautiful  
  
mud green eyes sparkling with mischief.  
  
She was not amused. She added that she needed him to effectuate her  
  
undercover operation and that she wasn't going to let him out of her sight.  
  
She also told him that their charade as honeymooners didn't include  
  
sharing the same bed. His sleeping accommodations would be the small chaise  
  
lounge at the foot of the bed.  
  
Then she stalked into the bathroom. Sitting on the bed, he watched her  
  
through the partially opened bathroom door as she peeled off her stockings.  
  
He swallowed hard as his gaze fixed on her leg, almost bare and very  
  
sensual. She felt his gaze. "In your dreams, Hobson." She snapped to the  
  
gorgeous voyeur before closing the bath room door.  
  
The gods must have taken some perverse pleasure in reuniting him with the  
  
former marshal turned detective. All he was supposed to do was to prevent a  
  
gas explosion on a moonlight dinner cruise from causing the ship from  
  
blowing up into Lake Michigan. Simple. Who would have imagined that when  
  
he grabbed that name tag to gain access to the ship that he would have found  
  
himself embroiled in an undercover operation to nab a jewel thief and that  
  
he would have to pretend to be Brigatti's husband or risk going to jail for  
  
obstruction of justice. Thus, a "marriage of convenience" was created (the  
  
convenience of the police that is) between him and Brigatti, a.k.a. Larry  
  
and Toni Thurston.  
  
Brigatti had told him that she planned to lure the infamous "Ice Man" with a  
  
very significant piece of "ice", the Lermontov diamond. The Chicago PD had  
  
pegged Paul Kettner, a self-proclaimed venture capitalist, as the much  
  
sought after criminal. Brigatti, as Toni Thurston, had skillfully struck up  
  
a friendship with Kettner and Amber, his platinum paramour, aboard the ship.  
  
And when she gushed that her loving husband "Larry" had given her the  
  
Lermontov diamond as a wedding present, Brigatti baited the hook and waited  
  
for the fish to bite. And later, when the jeweler at Jensen's presented the  
  
Lermontov diamond, Brigatti suspected that underneath Kettner's cool veneer,  
  
he was salivating hungrily at the thought of the jewel. Amber remarked that  
  
since "Larry" had given his wife the diamond the size of a cantaloupe, she  
  
should reward him with a thank you kiss. Excuses failing and unable to get  
  
out of it, his lips met hers, tentative at first, awkward, almost  
  
apologetic. But soon, the kiss transformed into something passionate and  
  
lingering as his lips hungrily explored hers. Even after their audience  
  
departed, the hungry kiss continued. He felt something. It was...  
  
Ouch! She swiftly kicked him on the leg then accused him of enjoying the  
  
kiss a little too much. He countered by remarking that "she had a long time  
  
between feedings."  
  
"Trust me, the way you kiss, I deserve an Academy Award." She retorted.  
  
But both of them doth protest too much!  
  
Some say a kiss is just a kiss, but with that kiss, feelings had been  
  
awakened even though they were both too stubborn to admit it.  
  
Later, as she hung dangling from the roof of the Hilton, he rode to her  
  
rescue and saved her life. Returning to the honeymoon suite, both of them  
  
let down their defenses.  
  
An undercurrent of attraction percolated and soon permeated the room as his  
  
eyes feasted on hers. He leaned over for another kiss. Somehow he knew  
  
that her lips would have been gratefully accommodating if that phone hadn't  
  
rung at the most inopportune moment. He loved Marissa, but right now he  
  
wanted to curse her bad timing!  
  
Brigatti exited the room to give him some privacy. When he finished his  
  
call, Brigatti re-emerged. He thought that he might have seen something in  
  
her eyes for a brief moment. Tears? A hurt expression? He couldn't tell  
  
especially when she quickly rebounded and once again became the tough as  
  
nails cop.  
  
He looked predictably handsome in his tuxedo. She was stunning in her  
  
evening gown accentuated when he fastened the Lermontov diamond around her  
  
neck. But, that night when she danced with Kettner and he danced with  
  
Amber, both of them felt a pang of jealousy. Again, they disguised  
  
their awakened feelings by clothing them in the retorts they hurled at each  
  
other. With Kettner's arrest at the ball for the theft of a diamond watch,  
  
"Larry's" tenure as a reluctant honeymooner seemed over especially after he  
  
asked her whether she still needed him and she told him that they were  
  
through.  
  
However, the paper had other plans. The next morning, a story about the  
  
stolen Lermontov diamond appeared. He knew that she would be suspended from  
  
the police force so once again, he rode to her rescue.  
  
At the police station, he found the proverbial Trojan horse, Amber,  
  
Kettner's girlfriend who had come to the police station to answer some  
  
questions about her boyfriend on the pretext of helping out with the  
  
investigation; Amber, with her dumb blonde routine was really a criminal  
  
mastermind. She was the elusive "Ice Woman" who had evaded the police.  
  
And he recovered the Lermontov diamond and Brigatti's professional integrity was  
  
restored. She came to McGinty's to recover the wedding ring she had loaned  
  
him for their charade (police property, she said). She also offered thanks  
  
and a smile before she left McGinty's.  
  
But many words remained unspoken that day between the two of them. Somehow  
  
he got the feeling that his "honeymoon" with the fiery cop was far from  
  
over.  
  
  
  
The End. 


End file.
